Friday, March 16, 2012

What About Africa?

"I thought you were adopting from Africa." Yep. So did we. But here's the thing about adoption (and life in general)-it's unpredictable. Even when you think you know what's going to happen, you don't. There have been many many times when I was absolutely confident beyond a shadow of a doubt about something and then that something did not happen. Surprisingly enough, God's plans are often way different than mine.

For instance, back when I was in high school, I was absolutely certain that one day I'd adopt from China. That certainty continued through college and as I started graduate school, planning to head to China to work in an orphanage. I read books about the orphan crisis there and I wrote research papers about it. I was certain that one day I would go there and help orphans. Fast forward to the day that Josh and I began talking more seriously about when to adopt-it seemed pretty clear to us that God was leading us to adopt from Rwanda and not from China. (We didn't meet all of China's requirements.) Fast forward a couple of months; the country of Rwanda closed its doors to international adoption. (Pretty clear that God doesn't want us to adopt from there right now.) Fast forward a couple months later; we thought that Ethiopia was the place where our children were. We learned about Ethiopia and dreamed about going there to add to our family. Fast forward a couple more months and my thyroid continued (and continues) to be an issue. It became pretty clear that travelling twice to a third world country to adopt wasn't in the best interest of our family given my health. We went from China to Rwanda to Ethiopia and were left completely unsure of where God was actually calling us to adopt.

So when I hear, "I thought you were adopting from Africa" I can't help but shake my head. That's what we thought, too. But God had other plans.

***This is the long version of why we switched from international to domestic adoption. I'm planning to chop it up into several posts.

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7 Responses to “What About Africa?”

"Man plans but the Lord directs his steps..."He never said not to plan! ;)Whether He blesses our plans or chooses to teach us something about Himself through thwarting them, His Sovereign goodness is fantastic!Where would you and I be, Katie, if we hadn't been thwarted? I shudder at the thought.

This is so refreshing to see you post about this!! I grew up thinking I was going to adopt from china (we also didnt meet the requirements), then we moved to ET and Uganda and those doors have shut for us as well!! I cant help but feel like we were maybe supposed to adopt domestically the whole time? Everything seems easier and falling into place with Tracie and the group! We will see! I love your blog and cannot wait to read more!

We thought we were adopting from Africa too... until our sweet girls were born domestically. God has a way of just asking us to follow and trust the rest in His knowing hands. I love your contentment. One day when He puts your children in your arms, you'll just know that this was His plan all along.